• Figures of Comparison
  • Simile: A comparison in which something is said to be “like” or “as” another thing.

    Example: ”As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God” (Ps. 42:1).

  • Metaphor: A comparison in which it is said that something “is” another thing.

    Example: ”Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path” (Ps. 119:105).

  
  
• Figures that Intensify:
  • Hyperbole: An intentional exaggeration or overstatement designed to achieve an emotional effect.

    Examples: ”If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters--yes, even his own life--he cannot be my disciple” (Lk. 14:26).

    “So the Pharisees said to one another, ‘See, this is getting us nowhere. Look how the whole world has gone after him!’” (Jn. 12:19).

  
  
• Figures of Contrast:
  • Irony: Intentionally saying the opposite of what is meant.

    Examples: ”As for you O house of Israel, this is what the Sovereign LORD says: Go and serve your idols, every one of you!” (Ezk. 20:39).

    “Already you have all you want! Already you have become rich!” (1 Cor. 4:8).

  
  
• Figures of Association:
  • Metonymy: Substituting one thing for another closely related to it.

    Example: ”Now, therefore, the sword will never depart from your house, because you despised me and took the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own” (2 Sam. 12:10).

  • Synecdoche: A part is substituted for the whole or the whole for a part.

    Examples: ”They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks” (Is. 2:4).

    “Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach” (Phil. 3:19).

Luke 14:25-35